


Best Behavior

by EllanaSan



Series: Tumblr Prompts [16]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Victory Tour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 08:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1259641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllanaSan/pseuds/EllanaSan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You just can’t keep your hands off me, can you?” He was enjoying her embarrassment a little too much for her taste.    </p><p>original prompt : Could you perhaps do this prompt? Effie walks in on Haymitch shirtless or something and can't stop staring at his abs;) victory tour or around that time?:) thank you!!x</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best Behavior

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Akachankami for the beta

Effie was an absolute bundle of nerves. The train was about to arrive in District Three and everything needed to be perfect – everything _always_ needed to be perfect obviously, but it should be more than perfect when that awful Gladys Levesque, District Three escort and bane of Effie Trinket’s very existence, would be in attendance. She had spent all morning fretting about everything and reviewing their schedule again and again. For now, everything was going great. Cinna and Portia were helping Katniss and Peeta get ready and doing a splendid job as usual. Katniss’ dress was beautiful, Peeta’s suit was classic but trendy… They both had the notes she had written down for their speeches… No… The only possible disruptive element was in his room, hopefully wearing the suit she had carefully chosen and laid out for him on his bed.

She had begged and begged without shame for him to stay sober on that day and after long hours of pleading he had relented but had promised to _not_ be happy about it. She would take anything he could send her way over listening to Gladys’ cutting remarks. Everything had to be _perfect_. Her own dress was exquisite, it was a present from Portia, custom-designed for her, there were intricate patterns of purple lace and small white feathers intertwined all over the dress, it was beautiful.

Haymitch’s door was slightly open so she knocked and went in without waiting for an invitation.

“This is a catastrophe!” she exclaimed “The train is ten minutes late and…”

She fell silent abruptly, gaping a little. She thought he would have had enough time to get dressed given that since she had last seen him she had changed clothes, checked on Katniss and Peeta multiple times and even went to the locomotive to speak to the engine driver but… she should have remembered that Haymitch was slow with or without alcohol. She should have been grateful he had pants on, even. Although… she was kind of grateful he was bare-chested, to be honest.

She had helped him change enough times along the years when he was too drunk to care about being covered in wine or vomit but she didn’t remember him being so… Where was the slight pouch of fat on his belly? When and where and how did he get those abs drinking his days away?

“Oh, come on !” He threw on the bed the shirt he was about to put on, clearly fed up with her antics. “Would you calm down already!” He walked to her and snatched her clipboard. “Are you kidding me, sweetheart? We’re fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.”

“Only five now.” she corrected him, but her eyes were riveted to his stomach. His surprisingly firm, flat and muscled stomach.

He rolled his eyes but looked the schedule over and even read the notes she had scribbled on the margin. “You really hate this woman, don’t you?” He sounded amused. She couldn’t remember exactly what she had written but she knew there were slightly unkind comments on how Gladys might react to certain things like, for instance, Effie casually telling her at dinner that her dress had been designed by Portia with her in mind personally. “Can’t blame you, though. Isn’t she the one always dying her skin green or blue?”

“Yes. It depends on what color is in fashion.” Her hand seemed to be possessed because it rose in the air and brushed against his abs. He pulled his stomach in instinctively, audibly breathing in. Effie felt a deep blush spreading on her cheeks. What had she been thinking? “You’ve been working out.” she said to cover up any awkwardness.

When he spoke, Haymitch’s voice was rough and she kept her eyes on his chest because it seemed safer, somehow, than facing him properly. “The boy is always guilt-tripping me about helping with bags of flour or paint or something else. And when it’s not him, it’s the girl. I think they’re afraid I’m going to drop dead if I don’t do some exercise now and then.”

She had trouble swallowing for some reason. It wasn’t just the abs anymore, it was also the hairs trailing down below the waistline of his pants. She couldn’t help but wonder… “Well, it does you good. You’re very… fit.”

“Yeah?” There was a smirk on his face, she didn’t need to look to be sure of that. “I would ask if you like what you see but it’s a bit obvious you do.”

She nearly spluttered. “Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Ridiculous ?” He stepped closer, she stepped back but there was a wall behind her and she was afraid of creasing her dress, so, in the end, she stood her ground. “You’re practically drooling, princess.”

“I am _not_ drooling.” But she might be wondering if there was any way at all she could manage to get him bare-chested at some point in front of Gladys because really… No, upon reflection, she didn’t want Gladys leering at him like that. Haymitch was _her_ victor and no one else’s. “Put on your shirt, now, please.”

He laughed but did as she asked after handing her clipboard back. “Embarrassed, are we?”

“Afraid of being late, rather.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Why would I be embarrassed? There’s nothing there I haven’t seen before.”

He buttoned up his shirt, frowning at her in confusion. It really _was_ a shame to hide that body under a shirt. “What?”

“How many times did you pass out in some clothes and woke up with other clothes on?” She flipped through her clipboard distractedly. “What did you think happen? Magic?”

“Are you telling me you’ve been undressing and dressing me all those years without my knowledge?” He didn’t seem to be too keen on the prospect.

“Dressing, undressing…” She waved her hand about in disinterest. “I had to drag you into the shower once.” He had been fully clothed at that time, but he didn’t need to know that. Let him think she had seen him fully naked a thousand times – which had _never_ happened, she drew the line at underwear – that would be her revenge for that horrid night when she had been half-afraid he had died on her. It had taken her one hour and two cold showers to wake him up that time. “Not a pleasant experience. Anyway… Like I said. Nothing I’ve never seen before. Nothing to brag about anyway.”

That was a blatant lie and he saw right through it. “Well… Next time you want to undress me, make sure I’m sober, sweetheart.” He smirked. “I may just want to return the favor…”

“Haymitch, really!” she huffed. “Manners.”

“You’re the one ogling me. Who has no manners, now?” he retorted.

“I am certainly not ogling.” She was probably too defensive.

“I don’t mind.” He tucked the shirt into his pants and patted his chest two times to make sure he was presentable. “There. Will that stupid escort be green with jealousy? Wait, she’s always green that’s…”

“You need a tie.” she cut in, pretending not to hear his grunts of irritation. He could go on and on if she let him. She rummaged in a drawer – the mess he always made! – and managed to find what she was looking for. He sighed but let her put the tie around his neck and knot it artfully. Then she carefully smoothed his shirt, letting her hands linger a little too long.

“You’re feeling me up, sweetheart.” His eyes were shining with amusement and something else she didn’t want to dwell upon.

She sighed with fake annoyance and stepped back. “You’re _impossible_. I am going to see if the children are ready.”

“Do you want me to rip my shirt off and parade around for you archenemy?” he called out after her. “That would make her greener.”

She turned around and fixed him with a death glare. “On your best behavior. You promised me.” she reminded him. “That means no embarrassing actions or comments.” She was sure the first thing he was going to do was insult Gladys. “Don’t talk to their escort if you can help it.” Because the first thing Gladys was going to do was insult Haymitch and it would be better for him to be far away when she did it. Effie had trouble enough keeping calm when she did that as it was.

“I will just stand there and look pretty, then.” he rolled his eyes.

“Exactly.” she joked, patting his chest comfortingly.

“You just can’t keep your hands off me, can you?” He was enjoying her embarrassment a little too much for her taste.  

“Seriously, though.” She cleared her throat. “Don’t drink too much. Please.”

“Seriously, though.” He mocked her, covering the hand she had left on his chest with his. “How many times do I have to say that I won’t? Consider this an early birthday present.”

“You never give me birthday presents.” She pointed out. “You never even call me for my birthday.” Which he should really. It was only proper after all.

“I don’t know when your birthday is.” He shrugged, his thumb was stroking the back of her hand. It was distracting.

“My point, precisely.” She sighed. “Gladys has been putting me down for years. I just want…”

“We will give her a good show. Don’t worry.” he promised. “Now… What do _I_ get out of this?”

“I thought it was a present?” That was just like him, he never did anything for free. “What do you want?”  

“I want…” he trailed off, considering the various compensations he could get out of this. He was going to tell her she wasn’t allowed to nag him about his drinking for at least a year, she was sure of it. “A kiss.”

“What?” She had not been expecting that. At all. “What do you mean a kiss?”

With her high heels, they were roughly the same height and they always stood so close to each other… Haymitch only had to lean in a little to press his lips against hers. It was chaste enough. Again, not what she would have expected.

“Was that so terrible?” he asked.

She didn’t know how to answer that. “Do you really think _now_ is the time to be joking around?”

“Who’s joking around?” Haymitch leaned in again but she stopped him with a hand on his chest.

“This is _not_ the time.” she snapped. “We have to focus right now.”

“The train is running, it can’t go any faster, we won’t be late.” He droned dispassionately. “The world won’t stop if you kiss me. Well, it might feel like it does, I’m quite good at that I’ve been told, but…”

“I am not talking about Three. I don’t care about Three.” she hissed angrily. She cared about Three to a certain extent but she cared about their reception in the districts a lot more. She didn’t need him to tell her what was happening out there, she had understood on her own. The love story between Peeta and Katniss wasn’t convincing anybody who needed to be convinced and they were all in _so much trouble_. “This is neither the place nor the time for that. It waited years, it can wait longer.”

She felt bold talking about them like that. They had never addressed the tension between them, the sparks… She had been half convinced she had imagined everything.

“I’m thinking we’re in a ‘now or never’ kind of scenario, here, sweetheart, to be honest.” He didn’t want to meet her eyes and she felt sad all of a sudden. The pleasure of showing off to Gladys, the glee of wearing her new dress… It all fell away. “I don’t see a good ending to that story.”

“We need to sell it harder, then.” The tie was crooked. She couldn’t let him go out with a crooked tie when she had knotted it herself. And it was something to do with her hands: undo and knot again. “We need to focus.”

“Hard to focus when you’re looking at me like you’re starving and I’m a pound of meat.” he joked but it wasn’t a joke really. And it wasn’t a lie either.

“You managed all those years.” She pointed out. The knot wasn’t coming out right and her hands were shaking a little. She should give up and ask Cinna to do it but she kept on doing it again and again. Wasn’t that a sign of madness? Doing the same thing over and over again and hope for a different outcome? Wasn’t that what they had been doing all those years? And now that they had their different outcome, it wasn’t working out so well either.

“I never felt the urgency in all those years.” He replied with a honesty she wasn’t expecting. “Now… I fell like something big is going to happen and break us apart. Would you _stop_ strangling me?”

He clasped her hands and she froze. They were too close, always too close, she could see every slightly different shade of grey in his eyes. Same dance they had always danced : so close but not enough, wanting and needing but not brave enough to cross this huge gap of the three inches keeping them apart.

“Nothing will ever break us apart.” She heard herself say, quite convincingly for something she didn’t quite believe. “We are a team.”

A flicker of annoyance flashed in his eyes. “I’m not talking about the kids.”

“Neither am I.” She was talking about them.

“Just a team?” There was the sarcastic tone again, the bitterness…

It was madness to do the same thing again and again and hope for a different outcome.

He didn’t move when she took a step closer, effectively obliterating that thing some called personal space. He looked so dejected and worried and a little desperate too… She couldn’t help herself. “The best team.” She kissed him softly on the lips, like he had done. “Friends.” One of her hands escaped his and wandered on his chest because, really, at that point… why go without? She kissed him again, a little less chastely, but still he didn’t move.

“What else?” he asked, his voice rough and deep. His hands moved to her hips and then to the small of her back.

“Be careful with the dress, please. The feathers are delicate.” she scolded him, making sure he wasn’t crushing Portia’s hard work.

“You’re sending mixed signals, here, you know?” he sighed, removing his hands from her waist. She pulled them back but _carefully_.

“For now, we’re going to Three where you will be on your best behavior. Then…” She kissed him again but, this time, he leaned into the kiss and it grew quite… _hungry_. She forgot what she was saying or to worry about her dress, she wasn’t even sure she could have remembered her name if someone had asked her at that moment. She was drowning in the kiss and she never wanted to come to the surface again, breathing seemed superfluous.

“Effie, Haymitch, are you in there?” There was a knock but the door was still slightly ajar, she felt Haymitch step back abruptly and she actually whimpered with frustration – a fact she wasn’t ever, _ever_ going to mention – but she blushed crimson when she saw Portia on the threshold, a polite but amused smile on her face. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt. The train stopped five minutes ago, I guess you didn’t notice.”

She blinked a few times and then quickly did the math. “Five minutes? Oh, this is all your fault!” she glared at Haymitch who rose his hands to show his innocence. _Best behavior_ , yeah… As if he was even capable of _that_.


End file.
